


Third Time The Charm

by Neferit



Series: Noblesse Oblige [4]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Adamant Fortress, Alternate Universe - Multiple Wardens, Dragon Age Kink Meme, F/M, Gen, Kink Meme, canon events
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 21:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16146230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neferit/pseuds/Neferit
Summary: Elissa and Sereda just can't expect peace and quiet, even ten years after the events of the Fifth Blight. Cora Trevelyan certainly agrees, as she is trying to prevent the end of the world while keeping things in at least a  tiny bit of order.Maker help them all.





	Third Time The Charm

 

When Emily Hawke told them she has a contact who could tell them more about the Grey Wardens, Cora Trevelyan nearly jumped at the chance. The only Grey Warden they managed to find, and recruit for the Inquisition, Warden Blackwall, hadn’t been able to tell them anything about his missing comrades.

Still, they met two of them in Crestwood, and the only thing they got from them was that they were hunting for a renegade Warden who was supposed to be hiding somewhere in the region. The girl they saved seemed a bit awed at the Wardens, but something rubbed Cora in all the wrong ways about the whole situation, and in a matter of few short sentences Cora managed to discourage the girl from joining the Wardens at the time being, recruiting her for Inquisition instead.

Meeting with Hawke’s contact, however, had been quite a surprise.

Hawke told them to enter some cave, and after a moment of hesitation, Cora, Dorian, Varric and Iron Bull entered the caves and proceeded to the central cave to meet this mysterious contact.

There was a woman there, wearing an armour of what obviously was the finest leather, masterfully crafted bow slung over her shoulder with similarly well-crafted short sword resting on her hip. She had her back turned to them, when they entered the central cave, and before any of them could say anything, she turned her head slightly to the side and spoke:

“ That’s close enough.”

With those words, they stopped dead in their tracks and she slowly turned around, her arms crossed on her chest, as she started pacing before them.

“ Well, let’s see whom we got here? Two humans, a dwarf and a qunari.” She snorted. “You do realize that you look as if you jumped out of beginning of some silly joke, don’t you?”

“ Those are rather bold words for someone who’s alone against four possible opponents, wouldn’t you say?” smirked Bull, only to have the mysterious woman before them snort again.

“‘ _ Alone’ _ you say?” she asked, and with a quick snap of fingers there sounded growls; low and menacing, as two mabari hounds appeared from the shadows where they were hiding just seconds ago.

“ Stop showing off, Elissa,” spoke Hawke, having the woman before them roll her eyes, before she patted her hip and both hounds stopped growling and went to her; one of them sitting by her side, the other one lying down at her feet.

“ Nothing wrong with showing off a little, my dear Champion,” the woman spoke lightly, pushing a lock of her crimson red hair behind her ear; the hairstyle impractical, if Varric had anything to say, but certainly very classy. She was very pretty with her hair, light skin, nimble figure, stylish facial tattoo that was half hidden by her hair and big green eyes. Yet there was something steely about her bearing, the way she held herself as someone who was used to be in charge.

“ But allow me to introduce myself. I’m Elissa, Grey Warden of Ferelden, and currently, a wanted fugitive to my order,” she said with a swooping bow.

It was Varric who spoke first. “ _ The _ Elissa, or some other Elissa?” he asked, his eyes alight with excitement; Cora could swear she saw the wheels turning in his head, as he no doubt already thought how to write this scene into his latest book. Elissa smirked. “The one and surprisingly only, master dwarf,” she said lightly, before she turned to face Cora and Emily. “But I believe there had been other matters your leader wanted to discuss than me being a badass, right?”

**-o.O.o-**

Elissa had been surprisingly open, when it came to talking about herself, or her search of information about Corypheus, but once it came to the matters related to Grey Wardens and their secrets, she grew tight-lipped to the point of frustration.

Emily thought it rather strange, given how open Anders used to be, when it came to his former comrades, but she kept that notion to herself. The matters were sticky enough even without bringing Elissa’s ire on herself.

“ The Archdemon has ability to survive seemingly fatal wounds - and given how Emily here once killed him, yet we have him marching around as if nothing happened to him, I’d say our friend Corypheus is more than capable of the same thing.”

“ But if Corypheus truly is an ancient magister, and one of the first darkspawn, like, ever, why would the Grey Wardens pull out from everywhere?”

“ That is a good question, Inquisitor,” Elissa said evenly, “and I can give you only one more incomplete answer. Every single Warden in Orlais started to hear the Calling, starting only few weeks before the Conclave took place in the Temple of Sacred Ashes. To us, the Calling signals we are going to leave for the Deep Roads and die in one last glorious battle. And now, Wardens started to hear it. All of them.  _ At once. _ ”

“ Even you?” asked Emily.

The only answer they got on that question had been a small smile and silence before Elissa outlined what exactly made her a wanted fugitive. Warden Commander Clarel called the Grey Wardens to their central headquarters in Orlais, and outlined a bold, or in Elissa’s opinion, way too desperate plan for one last strike of the dying Wardens.

Use blood magic to bind demons to the rest of the Wardens and fight their way through the Deep Roads, search for the remaining Old Gods and kill them, preventing any further Blights from happening once and for all.

“ Don’t take me wrong,” Elissa remarked at the stunned silence. “As a Grey Warden I can understand that sometimes there is no other way to stop the Darkspawn but to use blood magic. But to use so much of it in such a short time?” 

She shook her head, as Dorian opened his mouth to say something. 

“Only once I’ve seen a big demon summoning and binding of the summoned demons to fight for the summoner - but that had been a summoning months in planning, much smaller in scale and still it ended in disaster. So I told the others that I think such a plan foolish, and also unnecessarily risky. But Clarel got the rest of the order in Orlais running scared, and with none of the other higher ranked Fereldan Wardens nearby I was the loudest of the handful of voices that were against that in the sea of those who supported her plan in the gathering, and as such was easily shouted down and marked a traitor.”

She looked at Cora directly. “I do not know where exactly the other Wardens are, apart from the fact that it is supposedly somewhere in the Western Approach, but I believe that our crap is closely connected to yours, and we both are going to need a lot of support to uncover it all.”

**-o.O.o-**

Apart from the starting awkwardness, there were no problems with Hawke or the Warden, even if Elissa had temper that was hidden behind her lovely appearance.

Varric was quite glad that it wasn’t him but Enchanter Fiona, who got the brunt of her ire; the Warden being Arlessa of Redcliffe sure added to the intensity of her feelings about the place, especially since it was her family that had been forced to run from their home and seek assistance of the Crown.

It was no wonder that the Enchanter was becoming smaller and smaller under glare of Elissa’s eyes and sting of her sharp tongue. The Warden had been marching on her side of the war table, slapping her palm against the desk at regular intervals, making them all jump, and currently had been telling the mage that right now, only four mages were completely off of her shitlist, two of them being blood mages, one being a known apostate and the fourth…

“ Auntie!”

Seeing the previously pissed off noble turn on her heel and run towards the young man they met in Redcliffe, Connor (and only now it clicked in their heads that his last name was  _ Guerrin _ ) enveloping him in a crushing hug, the taller man leaning down to hug her just as tightly, was something that surprised them all. When they broke their embrace, Elissa held him at arm's length and after checking that he still had all his limbs and mental capacities and having those confirmed by him, she put her hands on her hips and glared at him, the man becoming smaller and smaller under the force of her glare.

“ Then, young man, I believe you have a good explanation exactly  _ why _ you didn’t send your uncle and me a message about your whereabouts.”

“ Well…” he started, obviously feeling very awkward, and the woman, his aunt, got the clue, and turning him around, she looped her arm through his.

“ If you excuse me, Inquisitor, I have some catching up with my no good nephew to do. But don’t worry, I’ll yell at you all some more later. Now, Connor, let me tell you about the time your cousins nearly caused an international incident...”

Turning back to her nephew, she led him outside, leaving the Inquisitor, Josephine and Fiona to gape after her, Leliana and Cullen chuckling, as they exchanged glances.

**-o.O.o-**

Elissa tended to stay out of sight most of the time - comfortable in her skin, yet uncomfortable in having too much attention focused on her, now that she was fugitive of her own order. Still, she would stick her nose into the Inquisition business often enough to stay tuned in what was happening around her.

She was especially interested in the invitation to Winter Palace, and the panic about not knowing the latest dancing trends in Orlais.

Josephine had been politely doubtful a Fereldan of all possible people would even bother with knowing the latest trends of anything coming from Orlais, but Elissa quickly proved that she wasn’t lying, pulling Leliana to the centre of the improvised dancing floor and started leading her through the latest elaborate dance the Court seemed to favour so much lately.

Cora herself had been rather relieved that she also had been much more patient teacher than all her companions together.

She commented on it during one of their classes and Elissa just snorted in reply, before she said: “If I managed to teach Alistair dance in much shorter time, there is nothing what would stop me from teaching you as well. You at least do not step on my feet all that often!”

Connor would often get dragged by her to the dancing lessons, often taken as Elissa’s partner when she was demonstrating some more complicated set of steps.

It was also planned that when Leliana gets her people to Winter Palace, Elissa will be one of them, posing as one of the players of the Game, being Inquisition's ears and eyes at the gathering.

Dorian himself had been rather intrigued by that - especially after Elissa responded to his cheeky request for a dance with a small smile of her own.

**-o.O.o-**

Cole wasn't quite sure what to make out of the woman that was currently splayed all over the plush chair Dorian favoured when working on something in the library, reading  _ In Pursuit of Knowledge _ .

There was always a wild mixture of emotions around her, and it was confusing him a great deal.

Sadness, lingering and dark blue.

Laughter, bright yellow.

Longing, light blue.

Love, all bold red and gold and warm.

Fondness, vivid green.

Hate, deepest black.

Uncertainty, dragging grey.

He wanted to help, to tame the rampaging emotions that kept the woman awake at night. Yet when he offered his help, she refused.

“ Most of this hurt you speak about is related to the Fifth Blight,” she told him. “To forget it would mean I would also forget everyone I ever met during that time, and the impact they had on who I am.”

“ You are one of the Couslands, yes? When can we expect Bryce?”

“ King Cailan,” Elissa smiled slightly. “He was far better actor than majority of people gave him credit for. He never had been as foolish as he led people to believe, my father used to say. Cailan was shocked by the news I brought, promising me justice for the murders of my family. But he, too, had been betrayed in the end, by someone whom he always considered part of the family.”

“ You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together.”

“ Alistair, when we met for the first time. The first thing he told me was a joke. A bad joke. But at the same time, the best joke I've ever heard. It was that joke that told me I'm not alone, and soon after that I met Sereda, and the others.”

Cole fell silent, his whole being focused on Elissa, letting himself rest on the emotions that swirled around her once more.

And there!

“ If I were to get married, I'd be lucky to marry a woman as beautiful as you.”

“ Very lucky,” Elissa replied, reaching to touch Cole's shoulder, the young man not flinching out of her touch for once, allowing her hand to rest on his shoulder, the affection seeping onto him like a soft, warm blanket.

She was happier now, the memories on the top of her mind pleasant once again. She remembered everything, but it hurt less. 

He still managed to help.

**-o.O.o-**

The night at the Winter Palace stretched for all eternity - with all its backstabbing, idly gossiping, murdering people all around and attempting a coup.

But for Dorian, it was even more unpleasant; thanks to the fact that he was the only Tevinter in here, the Orlesian nobles had been looking at him as if he smelled like rotten cabbage.

He tried to invite a noble for a dance, being his charming and flashy self, only to have her rebuke him rather rudely and loudly. It was so humiliating to be refused quite so, and for a second he fought the knot in his throat, before a sing-song voice sounded next to him.

“ Oh, monsieur Pavus, what a rude thing to do - to refuse such a charming man like yourself!”

“ Alas,” he said, his voice sounding light and nonplussed, finding his feet again, “not everyone can handle dancing dangerously, can they, madame…?”

“ Oh, Madame Paucity de Rochfort, at your service.”

Elissa, wearing a mask hiding her face and a wig masking her trademark bright red hair was fanning herself with a pout, winking at him cheekily when he had to stop himself from laughing out loud at her joke at the Orlesian expense (how very Fereldan of her, not that blamed her), as she continued, tapping him over the shoulder with closed fan, before she unfolded it again. “But you are even ruder, monsieur Pavus - you didn’t invite  _ me _ for a dance yet!”

That sent the tongues wagging - this little woman, flirting with a Tevinter of all possible people, and he responding in kind, as he led her to the dance floor. And did they dance!

A scandal, nearly big enough to mask the coup that was just taking place. Nearly.

But Cora surprised them all - she managed to wow the whole court, so when she called to Grand-Duchess Florianne, and slowly walked towards her, people went quiet and listened to every single of the words she spoke, Florianne getting smaller by each of them.

She cowed the power wielding trio into submission, making them see the matters her way, and for once, there had been a reason to celebrate, Cora thought, as she shared a little dance with Cullen on the abandoned balcony.

**-o.O.o-**

“I wondered what happened to you.”

Morrigan didn’t startle at the woman’s voice that sounded from behind her. Elissa Cousland, now Elissa Guerrin. Her friend.

“And I never had to wonder about you, Elissa,” she replied lightly, turning to face the other woman. “You got married and started a family with your husband, helping your country as much as you could, being so disgustingly selfless it never stopped amaze me how you haven’t gotten yourself assassinated so far.”

“Sereda never spoke about you - but I always thought she had to known more about your whereabouts than she let on.”

Morrigan gave her a small smile - barely noticeable, but her friend would notice it, being familiar with her expressions even after all those years. There was no need to say anything more, as the women hugged, Morrigan introducing her to her son later, the boy gazing at the other woman with a wonder in his eyes.

**-o.O.o-**

With the Empress saved, and Briala and Gaspard convinced to cooperate  _ or else _ , and the Inquisition finally got some things straight again.

Finally, they could point their full attention to the Western Approach, and everyone could see how relieved by that Elissa had been.

It was so very strange to see her without the mabari hounds by her side, but as she explained to Dorian once, she had a strange feeling about this whole thing, and thought it better to keep her hounds together with her prodigal nephew, so at least someone could keep an eye on him while she was gone.

What they encountered in the Approach sent a bitter taste to her mouth.

Her fellow Wardens indeed did follow up on the plan of using blood magic to summon demons, using the warrior Wardens as sacrifices in the blood magic rituals.

And that blasted Tevinter, Erimond, just stood there, looking smug, right until a well placed grenade wiped that smirk off his face, sending him through the air before he crashed into the wall.

He managed to escape, but now, Elissa, Emily and Cora, the Inquisitor, knew for sure where the rest of the Wardens were, and that the acceptance of Clarel's plan had been far from wholly accepted.

_ Michenne, _

_ I don't trust this ritual Clarel is talking about. Are you sure it's safe? Have you ever used Blood magic? I don't care what the Chantry says-I doubt they'd approve of the Joining if they knew everything about us-but my family fought Tevinter slavers near the border. This Erimond sounds like everything that's wrong with the Imperium. I'll be waiting for you when you get back. If you can look me in the eye and tell me that this ritual is safe, I won't speak of it again. If not...just come back safe, please. _

_ Chernoff _

Cullen had a plan how to proceed towards the Adamant fortress. Cora only hoped that their forces would be enough.

**-o.O.o-**

Laying siege to the Adamant Fortress had been far worse than they feared in the beginning. It was bad enough that they needed to break through the gates; while old, the fortress was still a formidable building, and it was easy to imagine the many battles happened here during one of the previous Blights.

And there! Finally, the gates were broken through, Inquisition soldiers immediately rushing inside, Cora and her group right after them, already knowing what they needed to do.

The way forward had been difficult, with Warden mages clearly slaves to the blood magic, and demons after their blood, but they pushed through.

Obviously, not even the Wardens 'corruption' had been as united as one would have believed – already there were groups of Wardens, obviously clear of any attempts at enslavement, fighting the demons summoned, and together with them, the mages the Venatori already enslaved to their will.

Elissa, once again in full Grey Warden regalia, shone among their group like a silvery blue gem, her brightly red hair once again gleaming with colour. She was constantly ahead of them, shooting at everything that moved, pushing forward, leaving Cora's group to struggle to keep up with her.

And finally, they arrived to the forum where Clarel was already ordering yet another blood sacrifice, under the smug gaze of the Venatori Magister.

Suddenly, it was easy to believe that Elissa truly was a daughter of Teyrn, and how it was her speech (together with hard facts, but really, as if all that many people cared about the facts, when one could hear a good speech) that swayed the Landsmeet to support the Grey Wardens in their campaign against the Blight, successfully ending the civil war, crown a new King and united the people, as well as Grey Warden allies against the Darkspawn.

Elissa spoke clearly, weaving words together, calling her fellow Wardens by name, pointing out the inconsistencies in Erimond's schemes. Finally, she turned towards Clarel.

“ You know me, Clarel,” she spoke gravely, looking up at the Warden Commander. “And you know I am speaking the truth in this.”

Doubt could be seen in Clarel's face, as her eyes looked at Elissa, at Erimond, at Elissa, back at Erimond.

Elissa kept her face passive, but Erimond allowed his mouth create a sneer. And finally, Clarel  _ knew _ .

“ For the Grey Wardens!” Elissa shouted in the sudden silence and then a whole hell broke through, with Erimond trying to get away, Clarel chasing after him, and Elissa darting after them as quickly as possible, once again leaving everyone to either run after her, or be left behind.

Clarel fought the Tevinter Magister with every spell she learnt in her long career as a Grey Warden. But in the end, it was one of her spells, the last one she ever cast, that changed everything. Successfully sending the Archdemon at Corypheus's command crashing, Cora, her group, Emily and Elissa were sliding towards the chasm, only Cora's desperate plan opening a Fade rift before them as they fell.

Thousand years later, mortals once again entered the Fade.

**-o.O.o-**

Being in the Fade while wide awake was different from everything Dorian remembered the Fade to be. The shapes of everything were somehow sharper, the threat of demons much more real, and add to that, a bloody Nightmare was the one who trapped them.

Only a spirit, once viewed as Andraste, led them through, uncovering what exactly it was that happened before the explosion that destroyed the Temple of Sacred Ashes.

It was Corypheus, together with Grey Wardens, who trapped the Divine, and it was bloody Corypheus and enslaved Grey Wardens, who killed her.

Emily immediately lashed against Elissa, who certainly wasn't about to let anyone yell at her. While Varric always stood firmly at Emily's side of things, this time he wasn't so sure about who was right.

Sure, it were the Grey Wardens, who imprisoned Corypheus, but it was himself and Hawke, who allowed Corypheus to escape his prison and them who allowed Anders to start this bloody war that played so well into his plans. Of course, the blame wasn't entirely theirs, and Elissa didn't deny the Grey Wardens' part, but she sure would be having exactly none of the 'all is fault of you Wardens' either.

They fought their way through Fade, the Nightmare demon slowly getting more and more aware of their progress, and that was when the real fun stuff started.

The demon started to taunt them, his voice sounding in their ears, resonating in the air around them.

“ Your family will die and you won't be able to do anything… again,” its voice spoke, and Elissa bristled. “Asshole of a demon,” she hissed, “the last guy who trash talked me was a sodding Archdemon. You sure as  _ fuck _ have some serious shoes to fill!” she yelled, and nobody felt like telling her she could bring unwanted attention to them.

The demons swarmed around them even if they were quiet, and like this, their anger, frustration and fear at least had an outlet.

But the point of their escape was near; they could feel it. A pity that so far none of them realized that in the Fade nothing comes without a price.

**-o.O.o-**

Cora stumbled from the Fade at last, closing the rift mostly out of instinct than out of a conscious thought. She, Hawke, and her group managed to escape from the realm of Nightmare demon, but at a terrible price.

Elissa had to stay behind, calling the demon's attention on herself, so they could escape, and continue their fight against Corypheus; the noble serious and grave, when she made them leave her behind.

“In war, victory,” she told them, before she turned back to the demon, running to it with a resonating call.

The fight against the remaining demons in the courtyard of Adamant Fortress had been short, now that no more demons could be summoned and their forces had been weakened by the closing rift.

It was Varric, who first noticed their missing companion. “Inquisitor,” he started slowly, “where is Elissa?”

**-o.O.o-**

The journey back to Skyhold had been sobering, Elissa's presence, always felt before, now missing, weighted heavily on everyone's mind.

The worst had been return to the keep.

Leliana already heard what happened, and the loss of her friend hit her as deeply as Divine Justinia's death.

Cora found her standing on the battlements near her rookery, looking over at the horizon. It was clear the spymaster had been aware of her presence, even if Evelyn walked very quietly. “Have I ever told you the story how Elissa saved a life in the Deep Roads?”

Leliana leaned on the railings, as she spoke, her voice sounding far away from Skyhold, all the way just outside the Frostback Mountains.

“ Several of our companions journeyed far into the Deep Roads, far beyond Caridin's cross and Ortan thaig, through Bownammar right into a labyrinth where Paragon Caridin's workplace was supposed to be. In the ruins of Ortan thaig, surrounded by spiders and never seen by the Darkspawn, this dwarf, Ruck, barely survived, being down there for years and eating what one should never be forced to swallow in order to live. Sereda and Oghren wanted to kill him, but Elissa wouldn't let them. Instead, she calmed him down, as if she were talking to a small and shy child, sitting beside him as they spoke, and Ruck would trip over himself, as he responded to her every question. Before they left, she promised him she will return to him, once the Blight was over, and if she would still be alive. She fulfilled that promise; joining Sereda, Fereldan volunteers and dwarven warriors in fighting the Darkspawn as far from Orzammar as possible once the Blight was over. She took him with her to the surface, and Ruck became her personal bodyguard, most ferocious of her protectors.”

Leliana looked at Cora, tears in her eyes, even if she never allowed them to fall. “Elissa was special, Inquisitor, and the world is less for her loss. I...” she paused for a moment, unsure for a second, and Cora finally knew what to do. In two quick steps, she was standing beside Leliana, wrapping her arms around the other woman.

For a moment, the spymaster allowed herself to rest in the embrace, before she disengaged herself, her face once again a mask of calm. “Someone should inform Teagan, Fergus and Alistair,” she said quietly, walking back to the rookery, Evelyn looking after her with a sad smile.

One more good person dying in this war. Corypheus would pay, she swore to herself for a thousandth time, her hands gripping the railings tightly.


End file.
